Structural glass is a major and fundamental part of a lot of modern architecture, with buildings such as The Shard highlighting both how beautiful and tough glass can be used to make truly ambitious projects.

For a long time after the development of toughened glass but before it became a common part of many people’s lives, people were so fascinated by its strength that they would put it to the test in unusual ways.

However, one of these unusual ways led to an unfortunate chain of events that caused the largest closure of a law firm in Canada up until 2007.

Holden Day Wilson was a legal firm based in Toronto that housed many highly skilled legal professionals, including 38-year-old Garry Hoy.

Mr Hoy was a popular legal partner known for his whimsical and playful attitude with his favourite party trick being to run at the windows of the Dominion Bank Tower to test their strength, with complete faith that the glass would not break.

Whilst he turned out to be right, the strength of the glass itself is not the only factor that would ensure he bounced harmlessly off it, and on 9th July 1993, a tragic accident would occur.

Mr Hoy was giving a tour of the TD Centre to a group of law students and whilst on the 24th floor decided to run at the glass to prove it was unbreakable.

The first time he did this went as planned, but the second time saw the glass pop out of its frame, causing both it and Mr Hoy to fall out of the building, in the only known example of auto-defenestration on record.

The shock of the incident and the death of a popular legal partner caused over 30 members of staff to leave, and in 1996 Holden Day Wilson closed completely.